Few days to the airlifting of the first batch of 2017 intending pilgrims from Kwara State, the state Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board has disqualified three from participating because they are pregnant.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Alhaji Mohammed Tunde-Jimoh, told our correspondent yesterday that the three expectant mothers were detected on the release of the comprehensive result of the just concluded medical screening of all the intending pilgrims.

“The exclusion of the three pregnant women is not punitive, but to safeguard their health and that of the babies,” he said 

On a separate occasion, the executive secretary said the first batch of intending pilgrims for the 2017 Hajj from the state would be airlifted to Saudi Arabia on Thursday. 

Speaking with journalists during the final sensitization programme for the intending pilgrims, the executive secretary said all arrangement had been perfected to ensure a successful trip. 

He said all the pilgrims would be first transported to Madinah where they would spend a week before moving to Makkah.

In his remark, an Ilorin-based Islamic scholar, Imam Abdulrasak Aduagba called for cooperation among the intending pilgrims for a successful exercise. Aduagba who is one of the members of the 2017 Hajj Committee, charged them to be good ambassadors of the state and Nigeria.